hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: iceland will be at football's world cup for the first time, after qualifying for russia 2018. pakistan are withing touching distance of winning the second test against sri lanka and levelling the series. and the houstons astros end the boston red sox quest for the world series with victory at fenway park. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the news that iceland have qualified for theirfirst ever world cup finals. goals from gylfi sigurdson and johann berg gudmundsson gave them a 2—0 win over kosovo and top place in their group and a place in russia next year. and you may hear more of this! this

isa and you may hear more of this! this is a couple of hours after they qualified. the chart copped the imagination last year in france. iceland has a population of only 333,000 people and is the smallest nation ever to feature in the ultimate football event. i think we will always be humble. i think that is one of the characteristics of iceland, to a lwa ys characteristics of iceland, to always be humble. we have earned the right to be there, as anyone else. we are not only representing iceland, we are representing europe. we have beaten big nations in our group to be there so why can't we achieve something there? but we have

not seen what teams what nations we are playing so we cannot save what oui’ are playing so we cannot save what our ambitions will be when we get there. why should we have a chance to win, like everyone else? confirming iceland take top spot in group i with croatia moving through to the play—offs afterfinishing as runners up following their victory over ukraine in kiev while finland and turkey both miss out. serbia's victory against georgia means they top group d and automatically qualify for next year in a group that had plenty of potential outcomes as to who could finish where heading into the last set of games. the republic of ireland defeated wales in cardiff taking second place and moves them into the play—offs on a disapoointing nights for the hosts, as andy swiss reports. what a great night for the republic of ireland are desperately sad for the fans of wales who were hoping to see their team take another step towards their first world cup final scenes i9

towards their first world cup final scenes 19 68th. they knew that a win here tonight would guarantee them at least a place in the play—offs, potentially even automatic revocation and it began spritely. but republic of ireland grew into the match and after the break took the match and after the break took the lead with a superb strike from james mcclean. wales tried everything they could buy could not get back into the match. gareth bale, left in the stand, could only watch as the republic of ireland won the game. they go through the play—offs while wales, their long wait for a place in the world cup continues. in group g spain and italy had already respectively secured the top two spots with italy into the play—offs and both secured victories in their matches. syria could take a big step towards qualifying for their first world cup on tuesday when they face australia in sydney. the tie is level at i—all after the first leg in malaysia last

week, where syria have been playing their home games because of the civil war in their country. chris latchem previews the action. reaching the world cup could not be much closer. what to qualifying rounds away from a place in russia. australia are back on tuesday at reaching a fourth world cup is the only thing on their mind. we know that if we win tomorrow night we go through to the next round and our objective is to play our football and we want to be aggressive and test them and that is what we will do. the socceroos may have home at one pitch but as many as 15,000 syrian fans living in the country could attend the match in sydney. despite city 25 places below in the world rankings and with it depleted squad, they are confident.

translation: we hope the benches will do well. the absence of five players would affect any team but my faith and trust is in the players we have and god willing the absence of players will not affect them because of their morale and they will is important stop for one team, this will be the end of the road. for the winner, a final round of qualifying awaits. with the world cup dream still very much alive. pakistan require another 119 runs for a series levelling victory on the final day of the second day—night test against sri lanka in dubai. wahab riaz grabbed four for 41 and left—arm spinner haris sohail took three wickets in a single over to dismiss sri lanka for 96 in their second innings. on day 4 leaving pakistan chasing 317 for victory. asad shafiq and sarfraz ahmed hit fighting half—centuries in a partnership that is so far worth 146 after they had stumbled to 52 for 5.

in major league baseball the houston astros have won a thrilling game 4 of their american league divisional series 5—4 against the boston red sox at fenway park to hand them a 3—1 series win. with the red sox leading 3—2 at the top of the 8th inning alex bregman hit a solo homer to level the game up and then as the astros won their first postseason series since the 2005 national league championship series and will face either the new york yankees or the cleveland indians in the american league championship series for the first time in their history please —— both teams, that is what you leave for. big—time situations

but our team puts pressure on ourselves and each other in practice so ourselves and each other in practice so that we are prepared in game situations. the chicago cubs are 2—1 up in their national league division series against the washington capitals after anthony rizzo drove in the go ahead run in the 8th inning as the ball landed between three fielders. the reigning world series champions now have a chance to wrap the series up when game 4 is also played at wrigley field on thursday. the equation is simple for roger federer — in order to once again end a season as the world number one, he has to start by winning in shanghai this week. the 19—time grand slam champion is returning to action for the time since the us open. austin halewood reports on the swiss maestro and the rest of monday's action. 0n the court, there is not much of that roger federer cannot do. after this performance, then things will not be at the top of his list of talent but ready to take on his

pursuit for world number one, federer is looking forward to getting back to what he does back. the goal was always to stay wealthy and stay in the chase, possibly. but ifi and stay in the chase, possibly. but if i want to finish well number one i have to win here, paris, barcelona. it becomes more and more unlikely which is totally fine. he may meet my kindle pot roast. the argentinian who knocked federer out of the open last month was taken to a decider. —— del potro. pala hitting and delicate touches, follies and lobs, featured in the match. —— volleys. it was del potro who won the war. through industry said. the former world number seven,

richard gasquet was also through. the class of the field was evident throughout the opening day in shanghai. south korean player with a great win also. now — for any footballer — missing an open goal is hard to take but down in the dutch fourth division, dennis van duinen may provided the worst miss of the season. the harkemase boys player managed to take the ball from midfield — manoeuvre around the goalkeeper and just inches away — still couldn't quite get it in the net. it gets worse and worse, every time i see that. and as if things couldn't get any worse for the home side their opponents vw capelle then came from 2—nil down to win 3—2. how do you continue on from that? !

you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me and the rest of the sport today team, goodbye. hello there. quite a lot of cloud first thing across the southern half of the british isles. some drizzly outbreaks of rain, as well, in parts of england and wales. the best of the sunshine first thing today is likely to be across scotland. for northern england, perhaps some breaks in the cloud, and for the midlands, too. here is the picture first thing, as you can see. fairly solid cloud across england and wales. we'll take a closer look at where the breaks are to be found injust a second. but really you can already see the contrast — scotland and northern england looking much clearer. northern ireland likely to see some sunshine in shelter from the westerly or south—westerly wind. some showers arriving for the morning, as well, one or two of them heavy

during the rush hour. still strong winds and some hefty showers for the northern isles. the showers as we get onto the mainland of scotland a little bit more scattered. some heavy ones possible through the central lowlands. here at least, in between the showers, some decent sunshine. sunshine across northern england first thing, too. although look out for some rain in the northern bay area, stretching towards lincolnshire. some glimmers of sunshine for the midlands and perhaps the south—east of england. thicker cloud, however, across the south—west, and some more persistent, if not particularly heavy, outbreaks of rain here. stretch those across the bristol channel into southern wales, as well. to the lee of the welsh hills and mountains, however, there will be some sunshine to get the day underway through herefordshire, up into the likes of warwickshire and into the midlands. things improve through the morning. i think we will see more in the way of sunshine, whereas further south, some of that cloud is going to filter its way further eastwards into the south—east of england. so enjoy any early brightness, because it looks like the afternoon for the south—east and east anglia will be cloudy, with some outbreaks of rain.

further west, a little brighter. but then cast your eye towards the north—west, where, after that glorious start for scotland, it has all really gone downhill, thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain arriving. that's this frontal system here, coming in from the north. tightly squeezing isobars, as well, mean strong winds, and that wet weather pushes across northern ireland, northern england, into wales and the midlands through the small hours of wednesday. so a pretty wet and windy story as wednesday gets underway, and this rain is really going to tot up as well for some parts of southern scotland, northern england and wales. particularly, i think, the cumbrian fels and the mountains of snowdonia. a dollop of rain, perhaps up to 100 millimetres, before we are through with this weather system, the rain getting further south into wales and the south—west of england come the afternoon. the south—east, with some sunshine, could see up to 18 degrees, and northern ireland and scotland will clear as the day goes on. thursday probably the best day of the week across the board, in terms of some dry and fine weather. just like winter, as well. and temperatures around average for the time of year,

in the mid teens. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: one of the worst firestorms in california's history is tearing its way through parts of the state's wine region, killing at least ten people. could president trump set america on a path to world war three? a top republican claims white house staff are trying to contain the commander—in—chief. increased pressure on the catalan leader not to declare independence when he addresses the catalan parliament later on tuesday. africa's first female head of state prepares to step down and calls for peaceful campaigning ahead of liberia's presidential election. go to the polls peacefully. respecting every liberian‘s right to vote with dignity and